Colorado House rejects drill-limit penalties
Democrats in the Colorado House have rejected a proposal to penalize communities that ban the drilling practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
The vote Wednesday comes as the GOP Senate voted recently in favor of a similar proposal.
The votes show that Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature remain far apart when it comes to local communities limiting or banning fracking.
Lawmakers from both parties are staking out positions in advance of a Friday report from a task force reviewing Colorado’s oil and gas regulations.
The task force will recommend that local governments be given a consulting role on some decisions about the location of large oil and gas facilities. But the panel won’t suggest that cities and counties be allowed to enforce their own rules.
